In the Midst of Things
by stugie
Summary: A flock of pigeons swoop past, and Tori follows their travel to the power lines just off the block. They settle on the wires, unevenly dotting the lines. All but three face her, some trilling, becoming her audience for this moment.


**A/N: I wrote this for another fandom a long time ago. I rewrote it and took it in another direction. Honestly it can be left as a one shot, but if people would like the story to continue, I've got a few ideas about where to take it.**

**In the Midst of Things**

From the kitchen Cat and Trina screech out a relatively headache inducing _"Tor-eeeeeh!"_—not at all an uncommon thing that occurs when the two are in the vicinity of the other, whether bickering or bonding. And thankfully, today of all days, the duo are partaking in the indubitable more enjoyable choice—for everyone's sanity—with a game of Battleship: Cat and Trina vs. Freddie and Mr. Sikowitz.

"Woo! Another bull's eye! Tori, where are you going! Come back here and watch me kick asses!"

"Uh, no. _Us_. Watch _us_kick tushes, Tori," Cat says, glaring at Trina, hands on her hips.

"Right. That's totally—_I swear_—that's totally what I meant, dude."

"Ah, Miss Valentine, it's been years since you've graduated Hollywood Arts and yet you still won't cuss. It's quite refreshing and yet still off-putting at the same time, I must say," Mr. Sikowitz inputs.

Cat giggles, bouncing on the balls of her feet with her hands wrapped around each of her pig tails. "Thanks! I think?"

The bonding, Tori muses, also happens to be over whatever it is Trina, Spencer, and Sam concocted out of her mom's small, yet obviously potent stash of liquor.

Tori plugs an ear up, trying the best she can to hear Jade on the line with the other, while barely avoiding smacking into a sullen looking Andre and a stiff looking Carly as she ducks out of her old childhood house and into its backyard. Andre smiles a very forced smile, Tori notices, before he quickly heads back inside; Carly gives what could either be a wave, or a hand spasm that should be looked at, then bends down to pick up a thrown empty plastic cup before she, too, goes inside.

Tori, momentarily bewildered, stares at the spot the two just occupied and stops listening to the now much louder voice still talking. She snaps out of her confusion when a car alarm goes off in the distance, making her jump.

"Vega! Snap out of it and listen, will ya?"

She spins around, facing the yard. Her eyes squint in the sunlight. "Sorry! What'd you say?"

"I said that we just got on the 101. I should be there soon if the cab driver figures out that he can go faster than 35 miles per hour on the freeway."

"Hey, listen lady, you see all these cars? Rush hour traffic, okay?" Tori hears the cabbie say.

"Hey, don't give me attitude, buddy!" Jade snaps back.

"Jade."

"Yeah?"

"How was your flight?" Tori asks, removing the hand from her ear and placing it across her brow line, shading her face.

"Long and miserable, you know that," Jade replies. "Especially traveling alone from N.Y.C. to across the country. I almost punched out a stewardess."

"Of course," Tori says, amusement in her voice.

The backdoor shuts with a little too much force, making Tori turn her head and, again, stop listening to what Jade has to say.

Beck turns around and freezes. He looks awkward (a very rare thing for Beck) with one arm out to the side and his other arm down, a bottle of lighter fluid at hand.

"Jade?" Tori interrupts, staring at the unmoving man that she hasn't seen—outside of award shows and press junkets, anyway—in years. "I gotta go. But get here soon 'cause I'm not sure how long it'll be before everyone goes bonkers. Though, I do have to say Cat and Trina are behaving as much as they can. See you in a few, 'kay?"

She doesn't give Jade a chance to say goodbye before the call ends. The phone rings out a little jingle to the outside quiet as its own bid of an adieu. Tori slips the device into her pocket and clasps her fingers together in front of her. She deeply breathes in and tries not to cough, the slight chill in the autumn air burning her throat.

"Hi," Beck says, breaking the silence first. He brings up the lighter fluid, shaking it a little. "Your dad is making me start up the grill."

Tori can't stop the chuckle that emerges. "Some things never change."

Beck smiles and starts walking toward the grill. The sound of leaves crunching accompanies his footsteps. He gestures at the burner, laughing. "You're telling me? You guys still have that same damn charcoal-burning beast. I know your dad is old school, but propane tanks are more efficient."

"He likes the smell," Tori supplies as an answer, slowly making her way next to Beck. She watches him lift the lid and pull up the cooking grid, the metal clanking as it lands on the side table. Tori takes a good, hard look at Beck while he picks up the bag of charcoal that's sitting underneath the grill, to put into the pit. She takes in his tired eyes, dark circles underlining them; and the slight lines of wrinkling above his lips, caused definitely by smoking; and the lush and shine his hair is known for lays limp and neglected.

But Beck's still one of the most beautiful people she's ever seen.

"So, I'm glad you came," Tori says, biting the fingernail of her right thumb. "I'm surprised you did, actually."

Beck sighs, too loaded for a Tuesday, or any day for that matter. He saves some time to respond by shaking the charcoal bag until it's empty and sets it aside. He starts to pour the lighter fluid when he finally speaks. "Honestly, your mom forced me to."

"Well, I guess that's another thing, amongst a big list of things, I'll have to owe her for."

A flock of pigeons swoop past, and Tori follows their travel to the power lines just off the block. They settle on the wires, unevenly dotting the lines. All but three face her, some trilling, becoming her audience for this moment.

"Actually," Tori starts, but doesn't finish. She settles her gaze back to Beck.

Beck digs his hands into his jacket pockets, searching for something. He raises his eyebrows, eyes on Tori the whole time. A book of matches is what he comes up with seconds later. "Yeah?"

"This is going to be harder—hard—with you here."

Beck pauses the task of trying to light up a match. "If you want me to leave—"

"No!" Tori cuts off. She reaches out a hand but stops just short of touching Beck. "No, I want you to stay. You're family, Beck."

"Yeah?"

"I didn't think there would really be a problem when I invited you, but then I read your interview with GQ about the divorce with Alyssa Vaughn and how it made you realize that she wasn't the one, but how your first love was and how you regret letting her go and—"

"Where are you going with this, Tori?" Beck asks.

"You were talking about Jade, weren't you?"

Beck bites his lip and runs a hand through his hair. He repeats, "Where are you going with this, Tori?"

"The reason I—we—invited everyone out here is because there's news."

"News?"

"It involves Jade."

"Jade?" he parrots again.

Tori nods. "Jade."

Jade freakin' West. She was the girl that made Tori's life a little bit unbearable in high school. But because of Beck's relationship with Jade and his friendship with Tori, they were more or less friends, but didn't try to keep in touch after Hollywood arts. And two years after graduation, they met by chance at one of those networking parties hidden under the guise of an art show for an old television turned up-and-coming painter in New York City. Jade, an undergrad in the B.F.A. Actor Training program at Julliard at the time, knew the art curator. The art curator wanted to introduce her to an agent, and the agent turned out to be with Tori as she was recording her freshman album with Virgin Records. They ended up at a café for the rest of the night; both needing familiarity of California in the Big Apple.

They decided to meet up once a week, which progressed into almost everyday within that year. And when Tori's album dropped—turning gold and then platinum—their meet ups stopped, but turned into frequent late night phonecalls as Tori went off on tour. Seven months later, once the loud buzz about Tori turned into a low hum and she came back from the road, it didn't surprise her when Jade asked her out to dinner, emphasizing it was to be more than two friends sharing meals together. What ended up surprising her though, was Jade on her knees as the Spanish tides drenched the lower half of her, giving her a speech, one year later during their summer vacation.

_"I'll probably look back on this moment and make fun of myself for this, but I'm going to say this anyway. Tori, I took a gamble when I finally asked you out, because I had no idea where we'd end up. Honestly I didn't really think we'd make it past a month. But now we're here, a year later, still together. And I know that this thing between you and I is something awesome. The complete definition of it, because our love amazes me and scares all at once. So now, I want to make the biggest gamble yet, against the world—Life—pretty much. It's brought us together, and I don't see my future without you. And I really freakin' hope you feel the same way because I'm asking you to help me stake the claim that nothing, not even the world, can break us apart. That you and I—" Jade lets a rakish grin take over her face, winking all the while "—will always be partners in crime. Either way, I'm asking you to marry me. So will you?"_

And now she's here, back in California, and ready to start telling the world.

"Are you going to elaborate any time soon?" Beck asks with a small, playful smile. "I'm starting to grow roots around my feet here."

Tori rolls her eyes. "Ha-ha. Did anyone ever tell you that you're the only person who finds your humor funny?"

Beck shrugs and strikes a match, but it quickly dies out. "So, Jade?"

"We got married in Spain."

The next match breaks in half in the attempt of a light.

Tori swears the trills coming from the pigeons sound like a horrible laugh track set at the wrong place and time.

"_What?_"

Possibly TBC...

Defintion:

Adj. Awesome - Extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear.

Surprisingly some people do not know the definition of awesome. :)

Surpising


End file.
